Future and Popularity of the Spanish Monarchy


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I heard somewhere that a poll that came out on the eve of Felipe's inauguration gave an exact 50-50 tie between monarchists and republicans in the country.. Can anyone confirm..?
 
:ermm:I wonder now if the media will be treating her like they did before she became Queen Letizia..........they were down right cruel and hateful at times. I hope she has a very long memory and puts them in their place without them even knowing it until it's to late.
And just who do the media think they are:bang:...........kings and queens, their jealousy is showing!

The media has not always been fair to Letizia, that is certainly true. But the very last thing in the world Letizia should be doing is putting anyone "in their place" and trying to even old scores like some female Spanish Richard Nixon. The position of the monarchy-and by extension her own and her childrens' positions-has never been more vulnerable than right now. She needs to be walking a perfect tightrope to convey dignity, humility and self-assurance.

Her enemies in Spain have labeled her arrogant and cold. She should under no circumstance give them room to add "vengeful". As a former journalist herself, one of the things I have never understood is why Letizia's former colleagues in the press are some of her worst critics now. Intelligence, skill, and commitment to her new responsibilities will go much further than planning out revenge on her detractors,imo.
 
:previous:Thank You MoonMaiden: Your so right, It's just that I really see RED when it comes to her being mashed around like she is dirt, she was in this field, it was her career and she worked hard to get here. She has worked very hard for Spain and the media knows this, she has not put one foot wrong since she married Felipe and has had to put up with so much hate/negative comments over the years. That was my anger talking and I should really think before I speak or write sometimes....lolololo and many times I don't. This is her time now, and she knows her enemies and these 2, Letizia and Felipe are great together, they are strong, supportive of each other, and deeply in love and devoted to their 2 lovely girls............just wishing them the very best for this will not be an easy road to them to travel for sometime.
 
:previous:Thank You MoonMaiden: Your so right, It's just that I really see RED when it comes to her being mashed around like she is dirt, she was in this field, it was her career and she worked hard to get here. She has worked very hard for Spain and the media knows this, she has not put one foot wrong since she married Felipe and has had to put up with so much hate/negative comments over the years. That was my anger talking and I should really think before I speak or write sometimes....lolololo and many times I don't. This is her time now, and she knows her enemies and these 2, Letizia and Felipe are great together, they are strong, supportive of each other, and deeply in love and devoted to their 2 lovely girls............just wishing them the very best for this will not be an easy road to them to travel for sometime.

Very well said, MoonMaiden and SElizabeth. :flowers::flowers::flowers:
BYe Bine
 
I am looking positive into the Spanish Royal Future, since I have seen the crowds in the streets at the proclamation yesterday. Sooooo many People..... I did not expect THIS impressive amount of supporters. Great!
BYe Bine
 
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Cannot Letizia's past be left alone?

It makes an interesting story for readers, and an easy one as the journalist just copies and pastes what has been written before. But they do the same with Maxima and her father, Harry and his Nazi salute, MM the single mum etc. Letizia isn't the only one with this problem.

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I agree completely with your post Moonmaiden!
 
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I am looking positive into the Spanish Royal Future, since I have seen the crowds in the streets at the proclamation yesterday. Sooooo many People..... I did not expect THIS impressive amount of supporters. Great!
BYe Bine

And don't forget a lot of people had left Madrid since it was holyday. Also many people didn't know there would be a ride through the city after the proclamation, and those who live in the outskirts could not get there on time.

In any case, I'm glad some of you got the opportunity to see that "other Spain", the majority that exists but doesn't make the headlines.
It's usually the most radical groups (republican, in this case) the ones that get all the exposure, since they are the ones who take on the streets and make noise.

I haven't done any survey, but as an insider I get the impression that most people either support the monarchy, or would prefer a republic but are still ok with monarchy if it is modern/austere/transparent. Or directly, they don't care because they think both systems are pretty much the same.
Only a minority is really against the monarchy/angry enough about it to take on the streets. And even then, they only "remember" to do it in specific ocassions, like when a scandal comes out, or this one with the King's abdication.
They protest about many things anyway. The monarchy is just another tiny part of their agenda.
 
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I am sure many Catholics have no intention to support this Head of State who avoids to have anything to do with the Catholic faith of the majority of the Spanish people.
 
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I am sure many Catholics have no intention to support this Head of State who avoids to have anything to do with the Catholic faith of the majority of the Spanish people.
Ok, then what about the other people who are not Catholic?

The constituition of Spain clearly say His Majesty The King, and no longer His Catholic Majesty The King.
I think that this way, it will be better for all kind of people you know, without discriminating anyone, and be King of ALL Spaniards. Those who are Catholic and those who aren't. Be fair and respectfull to all. After all, he is not the King of Catholic people, but I repeat the King of ALL Spaniards.
 
Those who are Catholic have no interest to support such a Head of State who does not really continue the traditions of the Royal House of Bourbon.
 
Those who are Catholic have no interest to support such a Head of State who does not really continue the traditions of the Royal House of Bourbon.

Where do you get all your info from? Obviously, nowhere relevant. The new King will sink or swim on his actions to help the people and attract business and jobs for his people. Since, the majority of the population of Spain are Catholic, your implications are false. Great numbers crowded the streets to cheer for the nice young man and his lovely family. As has been stated before, the Catholic Church has no bearing on this monarchy. There is a separation of the church and state, as it should be. I, believe, he will do fine. He seems to have his act together and will proceed.
 
It's time to move regarding the discussion Felipe and Catholicism. I think we know where everyone stands.
 
I have read from two different sources this week that the latest polls give a slight pro-monarchical majority among Spanish public opinion -something like 52% or so (I think for the one published in Catalan 'Vanguardia' newspaper..)

Can someone confirm that..? If this is so, it's rather disheartening, bearing in mind that it's only in the immediate aftermath of the wonderful royal ceremony that one would have believed fostered monarchical allegiance in everyday people..
 
Today's poll by Metroscopia for Spanish newspaper El Pais about the current political situation, first one that values the King after the abdication (tomorrow a more official one (by the CIS) will be known).

Respondents were asked to evaluate positively or negatively several political leaders, including King Felipe and Queen Letizia:

The best score, well above the political leaders, is got by the Kings of Spain. A little over a hundred days of assuming the crown, Felipe VI has a balance of +52 points, and Queen Letizia of +44, which is a radical change in trend against the deterioration of the image recorded at Casa Real previous surveys.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpolitica.elpais.com%2Fpolitica%2F2014%2F11%2F01%2Factualidad%2F1414865510_731502.html&edit-text=&act=url
https://translate.google.com/transl...media/1414863136_871026.html&anno=2&sandbox=1

Among politicians, only Pablo Iglesias, leader of the very leftish political party Podemos, gets a positive score, and it is a +1 (far under the +52 and +44 got by the King and Queen).

Such a positive change from last year polls ;)
 
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I'm glad that things are improving,Their Majesties have been working hard to restore the image of the Spanish Monarchy after much tarnish.
 
Does anyone know how the 'Podemos' party faces the new king?
Have they softened at all their anti-monarchist rhetoric..?
 
Does anyone know how the 'Podemos' party faces the new king?
Have they softened at all their anti-monarchist rhetoric..?
They have 'softened' everything on their speech, actually...

But one of their promises is (or was at the time the party was established) to approve a referendum about keeping or not the monarchy.
 
Interesting article on the political landscape in Spain that is about to change.

The Twilight of the Spanish Monarchy | Foreign Policy

It seems highly plausible that the reign of Spain’s Felipe VI, who came to the throne last June, will be a blameless one. What also seems increasingly likely, however, is that it will be brief.
 
I think we'll and see what happens in the future for Spain,political landscapes and allegiances are changing all over Europe following the Economic crash.
 
I think its about time that new parties will break up the two party system. If Podemos will be good for Spain, only time will tell. We've had this in Germany a while ago, new parties appearing, because most people are frustrated with the longstanding parties, but in the end those were unable to even agree on basics.
If people vote against the monarchy because Podemos will give the opportunity, they might vote against the last stability that remains in the country.
 
Time will indeed tell,I recall the media dubbed Juan Carlos 'the brief' at the start of his reign!
 
Also the majority of the Podemos electorate has no desire for bringing the unitary state in danger. The monarchy is one of the strongest symbols of that unitary state. Many Catalan and Basque separatist will jump on the Podemos bandwagon but then discover that there is no common shared ideal for the future of Spain and then it will fall apart. The Romans already knew it: divide et empera (fragment them and then rule).
 
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You both are quite right in your observations.

It's complicated. The thing is, that the majority of the increasingly potentials voters of Podemos comes more from a deep disappointment with the two main parties than from a real trust on their proposals. The political scene in Spain (as very much in almost every European country), has been a matter of two, with the governments alternating between a centre-left (PSOE) and a centre-right (PP). For years, when one of those two was in charge of the government, the other one just had to wait until they "failed" so the people would punish them by giving the power to the second.

But what do you do when the party in the government is rotten by corruption, but the alternative is also so messed up with the same kind of affairs? What have happened these last years is that the electorate's disapointment has lead to a each time lower rate of participation in the elections and to a deep tiredness about politicians and institutions. With the economical crisis and the high rate of unemployment, people is just too angry to keep voting the same people who is accused of dirty affairs with the public money we as country need so much.

That anger, disappointment climate was one of the causes of the Indignados protests of 15-M, that eventually was the seed of Podemos. They offer what the others can't, a "clean" past of their members since they are so new on the map, youth to please the wish of young (and not so young) people who don't identificate themselves with the establishment anymore, new and "refreshing" ideas (even if some of them look fairly illusory)...and the promise of a punishment for all those ones that have used their public charges to their own benefit because being honest, almost everybody is under the impression that they can get off with almost everything right now.

The other (quite important) things they also proclaim, such as the end of the establishment and a deep reform of the State institutions, some of the economical meassures that do not convince to all, and a long etc, have of course a nice number of supporters, but not enough IMO to guarantee an absolute winning on the elections. They may also have realized that, because in the last months, as noted before, their speech has also been softened on some of those matters.

Apart from some anti-establishment, idealists young people, people of very leftish (or right, extremes usually agrees, they say) sign, or some of the very affected victims of the crisis, I don't think the majority of Spaniards have actually such a deep wish of change everything, not really. After all, until some years ago, we were a relatively happy nation if not with the politics, at least with the quiet democratic system we had achieved to establish after the dictatorship.

The number of monarchists had never been high, the republicans were more but still, most of people were not in any side. Until then, people were quite OK with the RF, kind of: "Yes, we're not exactly pro-monarchy, but we are now better than we have been during all the last two centuries, we choose our representatives and are a modern European country, and JC is a nice guy who wanted to establish a democracy and even stopped an attempt of coup, so why would we want to change? There is no need, we're fine like this", which was quite an objective, pragmatic way of thinking, IMO. But them the crisis came, the corruption scandals arised and the Royal Family was wrapped as well on messy affairs, the popularity of JC felt dramatically after Cristina and Iñaki's scandal and above all, with the Bostwana thing, and together with the boom of Podemos everything went to a huger number of anti-monarchy feelings and the fall on the surveys.

After the abdication, things are improved, and it is true that Felipe's image is much better than his father's (during last years, that is) and people seem to be pleased with him as King. But the damage of these times has been indeed huge, and from those ones that before just didn't care abot the RF as long as they were exemplary and nice and represent the country well, many now think why should we keep a monarch instead of choosing someone as Head of State if they after all abuse equally of their positions and, at least in a republican system, you can choose another one for the job instead of expecting until the current king leaves it to his more popular son whenever he feels like. And after all, we can be now lucky with this nice guy that seems so sensible about his charge, but who knows what will his daughter be like and what will come later. Nah, monarchy is now OK but everything are advantages if we can choose (more or less one of the most common opinions about the matter).

So, to sum up, I don't actually think people here really want to kick out the monarchy and become a Republic right now, but if asked, I don't think most will be openly in favour of keeping it, as they probably would have been some years back. I trust the surveys that shows that most people want to be asked about that but, surprisingly enough, most people would vote in favour of the monarchy. It's impossible to now what we happen in the next years because people are really very divided, in this question and almost everything, but it is possible IMO that if they really want to change some aspects of the system that actually don't work, they would prefer to keep the monarchy that is the least harmful of all to maintain a minimum of stability. After all, monarchy is what we had all those years when we lived well and everything seemed to work. I think the Crown it's a good link to the happiest years, and so is still perceived even after the troubles.
 
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I think Spain would lose a lot if one ceases to be a monarchy.
King Philip VI is doing an excellent job and people trust Felipe.
I believe that the monarchy is not yet near the end and yet we see Leonor be queen of Spain one day.

I am 100% monarchy.

The monarchy is the most democratic regime and what works best. I think many Spaniards realize it. The republic never worked well in Spain. And Spain in its history, was almost always monarchy.
 
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Thank you all so much for the opinions; -and especially Annie S for that excellent analysis!
The complementary question then, I think, is what is the stance of the new leader of the traditional Socialist party, Pedro Sánchez, towards the crown and Philippe?
In my opinion, a moderate yet charismatic left-wing figure, who, much like Gonzalez in the 80's would not shy away from left-wing feeling but at the same time be pragmatic, and understand the importance of the monarchy to embody national continuity (for a nation that has almost always been monarchical in his history), and be able to speak out his opinion, could solve the riddle of the left, restrain the extremities of the Podemos (should the two parties govern in alliance in the close future), and save the day for the monarchy..

The question is, is Sanchez such a figure..?
 
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With time passing, the development in Europe and the changing political climate, it might be Felipe's service to Spain to bring true democracy to Spain by abolishing himself at the end of his reign. I don't think that Felipe will be voted out but he might work with the government to pave out the way for a republic. I personally don't think that Leonor will be Queen if Felipe will live out his reign. Time is running out for monarchies in Europe, maybe except the Brits, people simply want to elect their leaders and not have somebody who got the job because of a bloodline.
 
Because. Duke of Marmelade, we ALL Know what a splendid job 'elected' leaders do.. running their respective countries don't we ???
 
at least you can get rid of those leaders. when you have an incapable king or queen, you are stuck with him or her for a long time. i personally think that the monarchies will go, maybe not in my lifetime, but eventually. a bloodline ruling a country is very outdated, i simply don't believe that people deem this ok in 50 or 100 years time.
 
at least you can get rid of those leaders. when you have an incapable king or queen, you are stuck with him or her for a long time.

True, but the number of incapable elected leaders has been much higher than the number of incapable Sovereigns.

If people can't choose a decent Head of State, let's stick with the bloodlines. Kings and Queens have almost no powers nowadays (a mistake, in my opinion), but they keep the State above dirty politics.
 
:previous:
What bloodlines? Most of the reigning European houses have downgraded theirs.
 
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